January 15, 2014

FBI Director Picks Former Colleague as General Counsel

FBI Director James Comey Jr. turned to a former colleague from Bridgewater Associates LP and the George W. Bush administration to serve as the FBI's general counsel.

James Baker joined the FBI after two years as associate general counsel at the investment firm, where Comey was general counsel from 2010 to 2013, the FBI announced Wednesday. From 1990 to 2007, Baker worked in the Justice Department, holding posts in the Criminal Division's Fraud Section and the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, which was later absorbed by the National Security Division.

Baker from 2001 to 2007 led the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, where he was a DOJ point-person on intelligence and counterintelligence issues and gave the attorney general and other Bush officials legal and policy advice on national security matters. Comey was Deputy Attorney General from 2003 to 2005.

After a stint as assistant general counsel for national security at Verizon Business from 2008 to 2009, Baker returned to DOJ under Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. for two more years to work on national security matters as an associate deputy attorney general.

"Jim's experience as a career prosecutor and as a national security official, as well his experience in the private sector, make him an excellent fit for his new position here at the FBI," Comey said in a written statement.

Baker succeeds Andrew Weissmann who stepped down as the FBI's general counsel in October, after two years on the job. He is now teaching at the New York University School of Law.

"It's a fabulous office, and I think he's going to do great," Weissmann said.